Amanda Knox’s Slander Trial Moved to Florence

Kevin Casey/AFP/Getty Images(PERUGIA, Italy) — Amanda Knox’s slander trial began Tuesday in Perugia, Italy, and it ended with another delay. But Knox’s defense team successfully fought to have the case moved to another jurisdiction.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, Knox lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova asked that the trial be moved from Perugia to Florence, arguing that there is a conflict of interest with the prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini. Dalla Vedova said Mignini, who was present in court, argued the slander case even though he is one of the parties involved in making the allegation against Knox.

Knox is charged with slander for accusing Mignini and Perugian police of physically and verbally abusing her during a nearly 50-hour interrogation over four days in 2007. During Knox’s trial in 2009, she testified that police had hit her in the head during questioning.

During the interrogation, Knox made a statement that said she had a “vision” that she was in the house where her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered and that she heard screams. The statement was ultimately ruled inadmissible by the Supreme Court in Italy.

Kercher was killed in November 2007 in the house she shared with Knox and two Italian women. In 2009, Knox and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of the murder. Knox was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A local drifter, Rudy Guede, was also convicted in a separate trial.

In 2011, Knox and Sollecito were acquitted and freed after having spent four years in prison. Guede is serving a 16-year sentence.

On Tuesday, a judge ruled the slander case be moved to Florence.

Mignini is no stranger to Florence. In 2010, Mignini was convicted of abuse of office in another case he tried in Florence. A judge decided that Mignini abused his office by wiretapping journalists and police officials.

The conviction stemmed from a series of killings in Florence — the so-called “Monster of Florence” case — and not the Knox prosecution. But Mignini continued to prosecute the Knox case, despite his own conviction.

Knox returned to Seattle after her acquittal and is writing a book about her ordeal.